SEX OFFENDER PLEADS GUILTY TO INDECENT EXPOSURE CHARGES, COULD GET 3 YEARS

A registered sex offender pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of indecent exposure, two weeks after his arrest near Mira Mesa High School, San Diego police said.

David Allen Kemper, 52, entered the guilty plea in San Diego Superior Court. He faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced May 9.

The investigation into a serial flasher targeting teenage girls walking to school in Mira Mesa and Rancho Bernardo began more than two years ago, said police Lt. Andra Brown.

On March 26, plainclothes detectives walked with previous victims in the area of Mira Mesa High in an attempt to catch the flasher. A detective saw a man matching the man’s description drive into the area, and the girls recognized him as the perpetrator.

Kemper was arrested without incident.

Kristina Davis • U-T

Ranch hand sentenced to 16 years in murder of woman in March 2011

el cajon

A Jamul ranch hand was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison Friday for the murder of a woman whose body was found in his living quarters.

Miguel Medina Sanchez was convicted in February in the death of Maria Palos De Rubio, 44. She was found beaten and stabbed at least a dozen times inside Medina’s home on a 16-acre ranch on Lyons Valley Road near Diamond Gem Lane.

Medina worked on the ranch and was an acquaintance of the dead woman.

It is not known precisely what provoked the attack.

Authorities discovered the body on March 12, 2011, and immediately launched a search for Medina. It was not until two days later, after making a public plea for information, that investigators learned he had been admitted to Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa under a different name. He was arrested there.

Greg Moran • U-T

Detectives: Reported sex assault in Barrio Logan never happened

San Diego

Detectives have determined that a woman who reported being sexually assaulted in Barrio Logan earlier this week made up the attack.

The woman told police that she had gotten off a bus at Sampson Street about 8:10 p.m. on Monday and began walking when she was knocked to the ground from behind by two men.

She told officers the men covered her head with a jacket and then both sexually assaulted her behind a trash bin.

“The investigation by detectives has determined that the sexual assault, in fact, did not occur,” Smith said.

The lieutenant described the woman as cooperative, but said she ultimately conceded that the assault did not occur.

Kristina Davis • U-T

Rancho Bernardo residents warned about home burglar

rancho bernardo

Police are warning Rancho Bernardo residents of a burglar who has struck numerous times since November, breaking into occupied homes and stealing cash from wallets and purses.

The burglar has mostly targeted condominiums and homes in retirement communities between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., San Diego police said. Residents who have encountered the burglar describe him as nonconfrontational.

He has gained access through unlocked windows and sliding glass patio doors. He may be looking into windows with open blinds or curtains and spotting purses or wallets left in plain view, police said. Once inside, he only removes cash, even when there are other valuables nearby.

He is described as white, in his mid-20s, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet 3 inches tall, with a slim build. In one case, he was seen fleeing in a dark sedan, similar to a Mazda Protegé, with a partial California license plate similar to 5ZM462.

Kristina Davis • U-T

Brazen thieves steal appliances from woman’s yard, knock her down

San Diego

Two men brazenly stole a Redwood Village resident’s appliances from her yard Thursday and knocked her down with their pickup as they drove away, police said Friday.

The woman confronted the two men in the driveway of her Veronica Avenue home about 3 p.m. They were loading her clothes dryer into a late ’90s-model white Toyota pickup, where they had already placed her washer and refrigerator, San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown said.

The resident had been storing the appliances in the yard next to her garage.

When she questioned the men, they carried the dryer back to its place. She tried to stop them as they drove off in the truck.

She described one of the thieves as black, in his 30s, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, about 170 pounds, with crooked, yellow teeth. His accomplice was Asian, in his 20s, about 5 feet 6 and 140 to 150 pounds, with long, straight hair in a ponytail.

Pauline Repard • U-T

Man falls backward while working in yard and is impaled on stake

Santee

A 36-year-old Santee man was impaled on a stake Thursday night when he fell in his backyard, fire officials said.

Authorities told 10News, a media partner of U-T San Diego, that the man lost his balance while he was picking avocados. He fell backward onto the stake, which pierced the middle of his lower back.

Family members at the home on Ellsworth Lane off Prospect Avenue called 911 about 9 p.m. Firefighters had to cut off the stake at the ground level, Santee fire Division Chief Richard Smith said.